3 bold predictions for Vikings vs. Rams in Wild Card Round matchup

With a chance to win their second NFC North title in three years and the opportunity to lock up the No. 1 seed in the conference for the first time since 1998, the Minnesota Vikings picked the wrong time to play one of their worst games of this entire 2024 campaign in Week 18, taking an abysmal 31-9 defeat to the Detroit Lions.

As such, the fifth-seeded Vikes will become the first 14-win team in NFL history to play in the Wild Card Round when they serve as the visiting team on Monday night against the fourth-seeded Los Angeles Rams, who finished with the same 10-7 record as the Seattle Seahawks but won the NFC West via the rare strength-of-victory tiebreaker.

The Rams, of course, won't be a traditional home team, as this contest sadly had to be moved from SoFi Stadium to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, home of the Arizona Cardinals, due to the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles County.

Location aside, this is a familiar feeling for the Vikings, who played back-to-back games against the Lions and Rams in Weeks 7 and 8, losing both. Having just lost to Detroit for the second time, Minnesota is obviously hoping for a different result this time around against Los Angeles.

With that in mind, let's make a few predictions for the Vikings in this Wild Card Round matchup with the Rams.

Sam Darnold will have an even better game than he did against the Rams in Week 8

As the Vikings took a 30-20 loss to the Rams back on October 24, one might assume that Sam Darnold played poorly, as this was the time of the season during which he was struggling with interceptions, throwing at least one in five of six games from Week 4 to Week 10 (they had a bye in Week 6).

Oddly enough, however, Los Angeles was the one opponent during that stretch against whom he didn't throw an interception.

Darnold had just seven incompletions against the Rams on that Thursday night, connecting on 18 of 25 targets for 240 yards with two touchdowns.

His 128.8 passer rating that night at SoFi ultimately proved to be his second-highest of the season, trailing only the near-perfect 157.9 rating he received for his five-touchdown performance against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 14.

Unfortunately for Darnold, he earned his second-lowest mark of the season last week against the Lions, earning a 55.5 rating after completing just 18 of 41 passes for a season-low 166 yards.

But we're calling for him to have a solid bounce-back effort on Monday night. In fact, we predict he'll have an even better outing against the Rams than he did in Week 8 with at least 250 yards and three touchdown passes.

Jordan Addison will go for at least 100 yards and a touchdown

If you glanced at that headline a little too quickly, you may have thought it read that Justin Jefferson will go for at least 100 yards and a touchdown. After all, the now-four-time Pro Bowler recorded eight catches for 115 yards in Minnesota's first meeting with Los Angeles, although he failed to find the end zone.

But that's not our prediction, although we do think Jefferson will have another solid outing. Our prediction, though, is for Jordan Addison to get back into the mix and record at least 100 yards and a touchdown.

In the Week 8 meeting between these two teams, Addison was targeted just three times, catching two passes for what was a then-season-low 22 yards. The mark stood as his worst effort of the 2024 season until last Sunday when the second-year wideout had one lone catch against Detroit that went for zero yards.

We're thinking the Rams will do anything and everything not to let Jefferson win this game for the Vikings, which should give Addison ample opportunities to step up and make some big plays.

The Vikings' defense will intercept Matthew Stafford at least twice

Matthew Stafford had his way with the Minnesota defense back in Week 8, completing 25 of 34 passes for 279 yards with a season-high four touchdowns.

Now, it's no secret that the Vikings have been one of the worst defensive units against the pass throughout the season, allowing 242.0 yards per game through the air, the fifth-most in the NFL.

It's also no secret that Minnesota offset some of that damage by racking up a league-leading 24 interceptions, one of which came from Byron Murphy Jr. against Stafford.

For the Vikings to win this game, it's almost a certainty that they'll have to win the turnover battle. And as we're calling for Minnesota to get its first playoff victory since an overtime win in the Wild Card Round over the New Orleans Saints five years ago, we'll predict that the Vikings will indeed win that battle by intercepting Stafford at least twice on Monday night.